Hosts
Hosts all have the same basic concept of humans with a second soul, thus allowing the human to change into that other soul's shape. In this type of relationship, the human is called a host, and the other soul is called a parasite. The relationship between them is something akin to a symbiotic relationship, and the two can communicate through thought. The parasite and parasite's physical form do not exist in a physical plane until the host shifts. Depending on the relationship between a host and a parasite, the parasite can either stay back and let the host take control of that form, or come forward and take control of the form itself. This is exhausting to the parasite and so it cannot take control for long periods of time. When the parasite takes over, the host's presence depends on the relationship between the two and the reason the parasite has for doing that. Typically it is a case to case basis. It's common, however, that the host will describe it as temporarily blacking out, or that they can see what the parasite is doing through their own eyes and be powerless to do anything about it. Each parasitic soul was once a living creature, and only has the form of that creature until it decides to fully move on into rebirth. A host is 'born' when a soul feels ready to take on a new life without going through rebirth and leaves the pool in the jungles in Zurraith. It seeks out a suitable fetus and latches itself on. The human will then pick up features of the parasite's original living form as it grows. There is no criteria to which type of soul a human is born with, though it's common for souls to search for similar elements and species of the parents. It's not entirely obvious that a baby will be a host, however. The parasite does not front for the first time until it feels the human is of a suitable age—typically puberty—and when it does front it becomes a violent fight between host and parasite as the body and souls finally settle once and for all and both souls resonate with each other. This fight can be lethal to the host if the parasite is too strong. Each living creature except for humans is born with an element that it retains when becoming a parasite. Because of this and the relationship between host and parasite, it becomes a rarity for any of them to be able to learn magic. It takes more hard work and diligence than it would a typical human learning magic, and so most hosts don't bother. All hosts, regardless of type, live an average of 120-150 years, and do not make up a majority of the population. Dragons hosts The first type of host to have come around is the dragon hosts. They are more commonly seen in Zurraith and are the more powerful of the three types. As the name suggests, all dragon hosts are dragons. The only abilities they are born with is the ability to shapeshift, understand dragon tongue, and control of one element. Elements: fire, water, wind, earth, ice, lightning, nature, poison*, metal* *Poison and metal type dragon hosts have become almost extinct. These two elements are different from the others in that they are much more powerful and require various poisons and metals to consume, whereas the other elements only have a basic need for the correct environment. Fish hosts The second type of hosts to have come around is the fish hosts. They are more commonly seen on Illdian, and most people on the other continents never get to see one in their life. They are born with the ability to have more forms than the dragon hosts: a humanoid form, a naga form, and a regular fish form. Fish hosts come in a wide variety of types, ranging from regular fish, to sharks and crustaceans. Fish hosts are, unfortunately, the most oppressed of the three groups because of their ability to shift into a naga form. The pureblooded nagas often cause trouble and war among the three continents and so they have hid themselves away with the borders of Illdian closed. Elements: water, ice, earth, nature Beast hosts The third type of host to have come around is the beast hosts. They originate and are more common on Willick, though are capable of living anywhere. Any type of furred mammal or bird is in this group and can shift into a regular sized animal form, or a much larger and more intimidating version of it. They are an oppressed species on their home, though usually only in the cities, and it is nowhere near as bad as the fish hosts. Insults and the occasional denied service is the usual. 500 years ago they fought for their freedom. Elements: wind, earth, nature, water, ice